Clover voters to decide fate of $66 million bond referendum Saturday

Voters in Clover will have their say Saturday in a $66 million school bond referendum.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on March 22 for the ballot measure that would set aside funds for the Clover School District to build two new schools, a ninth grade academy, an aquatic center in conjunction with the Upper Palmetto YMCA and fund upgrades to district-owned athletic fields.

“The school board has looked at a lot of different plans and programs,” Superintendent Marc Sosne said in an interview Thursday with WRHI. “Ultimately is the plan that has emerged after five years of study.”

For the measure to pass, it must receive 50 percent of the vote.

Opponents of the plan object over past promises of a second high school that, at one time, would have been built in the River Hills neighborhood. Sosne said that hard data determines long-form predictions and he is confident the existing Clover High School can handle the district’s needs for the future.

Rose Cummings chairs the Vote Yes for Education committee, a volunteer effort supporting the district’s ballot initiative. She says the referendum in its current form makes sense because it addresses current and future needs.

“I really think the school board of trustees and the administration has done a good job at looking at all the options that were available to them and picking the one that is right for the entire district, not just one quadrant or neighborhood,” she said.